Mission: This blog is the individual talent management blog for The Human Sphere, a holistic talent management consultancy. This site is also the companion blog to the book The 1% Edge and The 1% Edge Portable Coach App available on all smartphone platforms - a unique personal & professional development app using the 1% philosophy. Learn about the app here: www.the1percentedgeapp.com

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

10 Ways to Sabotage Your Job Performance

Dr Susan Nicholson: Organisational psychologist and partner at Mentors Psychology has researched the ten things a boss hates about employees. I give ample time on my blogs about how managers should behave differently. And, because I am also a career coach, sharing information that can enhance individual performance for career success also needs to be shared.This list is a win for managers and for individual contributors:

1. You’re unreliableMissing deadlines, saying one thing doing another and has an excuse for everything – bosses hate that. They just want you to get the job done and on time.

2. You won’t fess up to mistakesBlaming the other person or trying to cover mistakes up, instead of just owning up to it and working out how to fix it. This shows that someone is weak of character if they don’t take responsibility. Which ultimately is the ‘number one career killer’.

3. You gossip too muchOn Facebook, Instant Messenger or at the coffee machine – it doesn’t matter how. Talking about people behind their back, stirring up trouble or undermining what the boss is setting out to achieve.

4. Nothing’s ever good enough for youI call this one the black hat! They are going to rain on anyone’s parade just because they can. The employee who constantly gripes, points out that new ideas are destined to fail or sits in meetings scowling and smirking. Negativity is like a cancer – spreading and rotting what the positive people are achieving. It perpetuates an ‘us versus them mentality.’

5. You hate changeThe one constant thing at RedBalloon is change. How can you be a fast growth business – growing organically – without constantly challenging the status quo and doing things differently. RedBallooners embrace change – it is just the way we do things. I could not imagine what it would be like to work with people who love to grumble, and criticize new ideas and processes.

6. You smellA very sensitive subject. Too much perfume is just as much of a problem as B/O. Both are too dominant in the workplace. Very tricky to deal with. Talking about dress and appearance is really really hard for a boss – and quite frankly they should not have to. Remember dress (tribal wear) for your next promotion. If you want to be a marketing manager – dress like one – don’t dress like a uni student.

7. You’re always lateTardiness, sick days or long lunches add up, and bosses notice – especially if you then lie about it. Don’t think your boss doesn’t notice if you are constantly cutting corners. Bosses don’t like people who appear to be doing the bare minimum. They want people who are not only productive but are coming up with ideas on how to do things better. If people are late to work, late to meetings, late back from lunch – it shows bosses that something else is way more important than their job.

8. You’re over-eagerThe worst one of these is when the boss is copied in on every email that the employee writes. In the end this makes more work for the manager. The job of the employee is not to add to work load of the boss.

9. You run your personal life from your deskStealing time is as bad as stealing from the stationery cupboard. You might think it is only an hour here or there on eBay, Flickr and Youtube – but it really makes your co workers mad. Realising that your time is a scarce resource that you apply to the greater cause of your work place will give a whole new meaning to productivity.

10. You’re a bullyI have been bullied by an employee some years ago… and it is really very distressing. Officially business need to have an anti discrimination policy, but it is astounding to learn that more than a quarter of workers saying they have been bullied at work, and more than half say they have witnessed bullying in the workplace.

Bullying includes needless swearing in the office, making threats…bosses want happy peaceful teams, not dominating or passive aggressive ones.